Grooming devices are commonly used to trim a pet's nails. Generally a pair of scissors or nail clippers are used to trim an animal's nails or claws. Scissors and nail clippers have serious set backs including the potential of causing serious pain and injury to the pet if the claws are clipped too much. Each animal has a vein in each of its nails, known as the quick. Depending on the animal, including the breed and type of animal, the quick extends for a certain distance in the nail. If a user is not careful and experienced, they can cut the quick of the animal during grooming. This causes extreme pain and bleeding to the animal. Additional drawbacks of scissors and clippers include the animal seeing the device during the grooming process and resisting the process. This can make it extremely difficult to restrain the pet in order to cut its nails. Scissors and nails can also fail if the pet's nails are very thick or cause the animal's nails to become jagged.
Additional devices are known in the art to cut an animal's nails such as electric handheld rotary filing devices. These devices, such as a Dremel® rotary tool, grind an animal's nails while the user holds the tool and the animals' nail must be held abutting the device. The rotary filing devices have numerous drawbacks including the fact that it is difficult to hold the animal's nail to the filing device, especially when the animal is scared of the device or its sound. Further, these devices do not address the fact that the speed and direction of the filing device should be adjusted in accordance with the type, breed and size of the animal.
Therefore, there is a need for a nail filing device that automatically, effectively and safely trims an animal's nails without the owner's assistance.